4.5 stars - To-date, I have read all of John Marrs' novels except for 2, and this one is definitely the most action-packed! ( )

Imaginative is all I can say. Holy cow-still reeling from this book but as enjoyable as it was, it was my least favorite. ( )

Marrs, John. The Minders. Ebury Digital, 2020.
The Minders by John Marrs is a high-concept near-future tech thriller. Whether you will like it or not depends on how you react to the ending. I am ambivalent about it. But no spoilers. Here’s the weird premise. England’s state secrets are being hacked. The government decides to put top secret archived data in computers in mobile vans. Hackers figure that one out in the first chapter, so the government decides to encode the data in strands of DNA and install it in the minds of several individuals with a rare form of synesthesia. The novel follows the adventures of the “minders” with the data uploads. Many surprises as we find out that some of the minders may not be what they seem. The plot has plenty of action that becomes bloodier as it goes along. The characters have distinct personalities, and their stories are gripping enough to encourage suspending disbelief in the whole idea that DNA data is less hackable than the digital variety or that the government would have much use for data in such a difficult read-only technology. Gibson’s Johnny Mnemonic was more believable. 3.5 stars. ( )

Review of uncorrected ebook file

Information may be king in the twenty-first century, but there will always be hackers determined to find a way to retrieve the information for themselves. And so it is that a government program has identified five ordinary citizens to help them thwart the threat of cyberterrorism.

Turning the nation’s most vital secrets into genetic code allowed scientists to place these secrets into the brains of the five citizens. In five years, they’ll have a fool-proof, hacker-proof way to store the information and the five citizens will be able to go about their lives.

But someone has uncovered the truth; someone knows the identity of The Minders . . . and someone is hunting them down.

Will The Minders fall to the hackers? Will they find a way to keep the nation’s secrets secure? And what happens if the hackers reveal The Minders’ identities before the five years are up?

Although “The Minders” is a stand-alone book, it holds some connections to two of the author’s previous books. The first, “The One,” is a story about finding the perfect partner meant for you, your perfect Match, through DNA. The second, “The Passengers,” is a story about autonomous driverless cars that focuses on what happens when the cars are hacked. Although it is not necessary to read either of these books before reading “The Minders,” readers will appreciate the background provided by each of the previous stories.

Strong, well-defined characters populate this intriguing tale. Told alternately by Flick, Charlie, Sinéad, Emilia, and Bruno, the unfolding story places readers in the middle of uncertainty and ever-building suspense. The multiple points of view and the intriguing plot help to keep the story exciting and unpredictable.

A highlight of the story is discovering the ways each of the people involved deal with their lives before and after receiving the secrets. How will they adjust to their new situations? How will they start their new lives? Will they be safe in the small towns where they’ve chosen to settle? The backstories for each of the characters are interesting, diverse, and compelling.

Plot twists move the story in unexpected directions; an unforeseen twist late in the telling of the tale may surprise readers. This chilling look at the dark side of technology makes the story truly unnerving. Readers are sure to find it difficult to set this one aside before turning the final page.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
#TheMinders #NetGalley ( )

In THE MINDERS, by John Marrs, five people are entrusted with government secrets inserted into their heads for safekeeping. With blind faith and little evidence of the data's or the host's safety, the five are trained how to protect themselves and their secrets. Nothing goes quite as expected and the question becomes will any of them survive and will the governmental secrets be lost forever.
Set in the near future, THE MINDERS connects to societal suspicion that their are so many governmental secrets and so many conspirators that want to get their hands on them. As technology makes accessing information easier, it forces government to find new ways to protect that information from the wrong people. While the comment on government and secrets is prevalent throughout, Marrs couples that by introducing some really special characters with very different personalities that all become intertwined in this cloak and dagger plot where more lies are told than truths. In order for any of five to survive, they all realize the most important ability they were taught is analyzing the truthfulness of a situation and responding appropriately. How do they avoid revealing themselves without creating a cause for suspicion and how to they determine who is real and who is pretending? Marrs not only crafts the plot to build to a climax, but as the five start to become unhinged, the reader start to feel their lack of control at moments when the reader wishes they had more control.
Really exciting and challenging to one's perception of government, THE MINDERS is timely, action-packed, and rewardingly complex book that unwinds into a truth by the end that the reader won't see coming.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group, John Marrs, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ( )